Carnivore:Monster
by M.R. Savoie
Summary: Inspired by the band Starset's new album I decided to write this fanfic. It is based on the history detailed in their book Prox as well as the comic and bits from the Proxcast.
1. Prologue

Prologue

WHOOOOOM. WHOOOOOM. As the pitched alarms sounded Evan grabbed Rosie's hand tighter as they ran for the nearest safe port. Bumped together and nearly jostled apart, the other side of the street couldn't seem farther away as they ran with the crowd of adults to safety.

Everyone had been quiet, lying on the old, cracked asphalt road that was only used by the FEC trucks now. Some of them asleep, others in drugged-out hazes, only watching the pictages as the screens flashed in front of their faces. That all changed as soon as the CVR trucks started rolling through.

Coming before the alarms, the trucks had taken the remaining populace of Growth Zone 298, formerly Buffalo, New York by surprise and all that was left now was run for the nearest safe building. Away from the soldiers, the carnivores and their blue, blue eyes.

Rosie stumbled on the corpse of someone that had wasted away in the drugged out haze the underlords provided. Evan grabbed her around the waist and carried her as he ran. They were both seven, but he was the boy and stronger. He dodged around someone's heavy booted feet running the other way from the crowd. Towards the carnivores, their guns, their drugs. No one tried to stop the idiot.

Evan dropped Rosie as one of her punches finally connected to his stomach. He dropped to the ground gripping his abdomen and someone ran over his back, flattening him to the cracks beneath him, pushing the last of his air out. He barely heard Rosie's scream as she grabbed his hand, then his shoulders as she dragged him to the doorway they were so close to. His knees were still on the step when the explosion went off.

Somehow one of the underlords had been able to rig up something he called a carnie special. It was a Molotov cocktail of whatever could be scrounged from everything machine crap rations and whatever was left in the dirt-cheap homes from the before. None of the underlord's people had been able to return from one such detonation, but that was supposedly the point he said.

Evans ears went white. That was all he could think of to call it. No screaming, no trucks rumbling, no boots or bare feet stomping, running on the ground. Nothing at all to break the white up. Until Rosie spoke up.

"Evan, you lost your shoes."

He looked down at his dirty, now bare feet and felt like crying. He didn't want to find new shoes. New shoes meant having to go to the pile at the back of the growth center. It meant sneaking past carnivores and trying to find a kid like him that had died and still had his shoes. Most had already been snatched by the kids that worked for the underlords. So that meant floppy shoes that made his toes cold.

"Idiot kid's lucky to have feet." The gravely voice came from to the side of the safe zone home.

Evan looked over and saw the dirty, bearded face of Johnathan Elis. Johnathan Elis was a mean old man that refused to be called by anything else. He refused to watch the pictages, take the carnivore's drugs, accept the rations from the everything machine. He was a weird old guy, and always grumpy. Evan had tried to be nice to him, but only every got glared at instead. So now he stuck his tongue out at Johnathan Elis.

"I'd rather have my shoes, thanks."

Johnathan Elis just shook his head and tilted it so he could look out the nearby window without being seen. Evan looked behind him to try and see what Johnathan Elis did. All he saw was a couple carnivores kicking the leftover body bits of the underlord's idiot and the rest sweeping the area, shooting anyone laying about, still with their pictages playing but not moving. The FEC claimed that those that didn't have any will were good for nothing and would every so often make a sweep of the growth zones for the corpses and the people that didn't bother to live anymore. If you didn't want to live, then why stay alive and use up all that extra material that could be put to better use?

Johnathan Elis shook his head. "Kid, believe me. You'd rather have your feet than be one more reason for that machine to keep running."


	2. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

"Rosie, where are you going with this?" Evan kicked the body in front of him to the side. There were more now than when he had been seven, but then again more and more people were losing hope, plugging into their pictages instead of reality. Preferring to see what the world of the past had for them to enjoy than worrying about the horrors of today. "You can't rise up, you know that." The guy he kicked grunted and pushed himself to the closest brick wall, out of the way.

Rosie turned on her heel to face him and cocked a red eyebrow. She was the only person Evan had ever known to have red hair. "What do you mean, of course we can. We just have to be, you know, super smart. Like, FEC Prox bound smart." She cocked a smile at him.

Evan wanted to pinch his nose and work away the headache he could feel growing. "Rosie, if you hadn't noticed, I'm near the bottom of our segment. I'm just barely keeping above the carnivore's sweep."

"Maybe so, but if you start to put in the work now, by the time we graduate you could easily be in the top. The key is to focus on what is important and what they want."

He could feel the headache growing larger. "They don't care about any of our subjects, Rosie. The only segments they pay attention to are the ones that used to be giant cities or surround the main base. Or senators kids. But that's about it. Money above smarts."

"We have to focus on science, on math. People have done it Ev. They've done it, and we can too."

He shook his head, but continued to follow Rosie to the foster house they slept at. No one actually lived in any of the houses that remained standing, they were just used for sleeping mainly. Unless you had someone to keep watch and then there might be a couple mouthfuls of FEC ration blocks. Only the kids left over from riots and sweeps would actually be in a couple houses, all overly watched by the carnivores to make sure no one unregistered would be going in.

Since he had been seven and the carnivores had made that first big sweep when Growth Zone 298 had been established, they had rounded up all the kids and separated them into three different sections of the city. Three sections well away from the supposed areas the underlords controlled or rather what the carnies thought they controlled. Both he and Rosie had been assigned to the third section, so shared a home and school with twelve other kids. There had been more at one point, but natural reproduction was severely controlled and their numbers quickly dwindled once the kids reached fifteen, or sixteen or so. Always a girl first, then closely followed by a boy.

When he was little Evan had only cared about losing a pair of shoes and having to scrounge a new to him, yucky pair from a dead body with feet similar to his own. And hopefully they would be boy shoes. Now, at thirteen, he had to worry more about curfew and making sure Rosie wouldn't yell at him for something stupid. Again. It had been happening a lot more recently.

"I'm good at history, Rosie. And Gym… and maybe lunch if it doesn't taste super moldy. Not Math and science. I can tell you the whole history of the FEC, how they found Prox and all the rise and fall of the different presidents then business guys, then the FEC. Oh, and I can tell you about what they liked to watch and the weird separate technology they had." He brought up his pictage with a thought. "Which still seems really weird. I mean, why would you want to have your techy separate? You'd be able to lose it so easily." He blinked the holoscreen in front of his face away. "I mean, you lose your socks every day."  
"Do not, and you're changing the subject." She poked him in the chest. "But that's exactly what I mean. All those things you just mentioned? Go one step further and you get into the science of those things, which leads to science today which leads to being important to the FEC."

 _What if I don't want to be important?_ Evan thought, but didn't say. He barely let the thought form in the first place. Pictages being what they were, micro-computers implanted in the brain at or close to birth, the FEC could and routinely easily did sweep through what people were looking up, in to or anything that might be against them. Easy ways to figure out who would be getting closer and closer to not caring about anything but staring at a pictage all day every day.

"Still though, it seems….hard."

"It's supposed to be hard, duh. It's school and school is hard."

Evan grumbled something about being annoying and wanting to stay with what he was good at.

Rosie rolled her eyes. "It's not going to kill you to try."

He sighed. "Fine. I'll try, happy?"

Rosie's smile almost broke her face in two it was so large. "Thank you Evan!" She hugged him around the waist. "And just in time too. I told Mr. Henri that you'd be joining in the extra math and science courses coming up with me." Her wide smile took on a little evil, bratty twist.

Evan felt a little pit open in his stomach and the blood drain from his face. It was one thing to say he'd focus more on math and science, another thing entirely to know Rosie had signed him up for extended courses. "You didn't."

The evil smile took deeper root. "Oh, yes. I. Did."

"Rosie!" He grabbed for her but she scooted just out of reach and laughed at him.

"What? You said that you would study harder with me, and that's pointless if we aren't studying the same things." Her face fell a little bit. "Are you mad at me?"

Evan stared at her. He had been mad, but as soon as her face fell and she asked that feeling just, disappeared. He didn't know if he would be able to keep up with the rest of the class and that scared him. But when he saw Rosie's little side smile he couldn't help but want to go along with her crazy scheme. "No, I'm not mad. Not anymore."

Rosie's grin magically reappeared, except a little cockier, "I knew you were going to say yes. If only for my winning personality." She turned around and started walking again.

"Yes," he grumbled, "the thing that always gets us into trouble. You're oh so 'winning personality'."

"What was that?" Rosie called over her shoulder.

"You're a pinnacle of virtue and goodness and everyone should look up to your shining example." He called forward to her.

"That's what I thought." He could hear the probably now permanent grin in her voice.

He started to follow then paused in his step, "Hey, wait up for me, Rosie?"

She turned back again, frowning. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere. Nowhere important. Why? You don't have to know everything about me." He felt suddenly defensive.

She frowned, "Ev-"

"Gotta go!" He turned to the right and started running to one of the alleys. "Tell old gump face I'll be back by dinner time!" He gave a half wave.

"Wait, Evan!"

"See ya!" He disappeared into the darkness created by the two crumbling brick buildings.


	3. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Pushing against one of the brick walls, Evan vaulted over the trash piles yet to be collected. Most were empty everything machine ration containers, some were bits and scraps of clothing. Not as many bugged out pictaged adults though, they were too large to fit in the gap. The streets were for them, the alleys for the kids and underlords.

The FEC wouldn't publically do anything about the underlords, much less acknowledge their existence, so they were free to run things as they deemed fit. In other words, while the FEC ruled on the surface, it was only over a shaky, spider-weby network of underlords across the Growth Zones and the kids they had run for them. Evan had been approached by one of the network to join up the year before.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, Evan almost ran into Zeke running horizontally to him.

"Woah, watchit." Zeke hopped back on one foot, mimicking Evans movements as they both skidded to a stop just before colliding and probably hurting each other. "Oh, Ev. Where ya been man?" There was a ping on Evan's message controller. He opened the pictage to see an old GiF of a black and white cartoon cat smiling widely with a puff of yellow feathers popping out of its mouth at the end before repeating.

"Where'd you find this one?" Evan asked, ignoring the first question.

"Old Josie showed it to me. She said it's from cartoon when she was a kid about a house cat always trying to eat this skinny yellow bird. I thought it was a good one for a 'hi' message."

"Definitely. Can I steal it?"

"Sure, I already showed Harris and Corky. Hey so what about it?"

Evan saved the clip to his boards then brought the pictage down. "How about what?"

"Well you know, you going to the old guy still?" Zeke nodded to the downed pictage, his was still up and running, rainbow colors changing rapidly to whatever Zeke wanted to see in the world. Which was apparently close to true since he could actually see Evan. Which was a strangely uncomfortable feeling.

Evan shrugged. "You know. Gotta do what you gotta do."

"True, true." Zeke nodded sagely, a claim he could not keep up seeing as he was only a couple months older than Evan. Although maybe sage-ness would be achieved in the few months separating him from being fourteen? "Anyway," Zeke continued, "Just remember you have to let Rabbit know what's what eventually. Rabbit needs to tell Mongol, and Mongol need to his boss and so on. You know how weird adults are. Anys, keep me posted, chill?"

"Yeah, keep ya posted." Evan gave a half wave, watching Zeke continue his running path down the opposite alleyway.

 _Just one of many reasons why._ Evan thought sometimes he might be able to get away with avoiding the big messes he felt deep, deep down were coming. But most of the time he felt like he was standing chin-deep in toxic water that would kill him with one swallow, like the convo with Zeke just then. Filled up with maybe mistakes and possible give aways. If he wasn't careful he felt like he would fall. Not a good feeling, that.

Taking a quick left, he could still feel the hidden eyes on him from other passageways. The feeling of if he looked he could see them, even though he knew he wouldn't. The underlords spies and kids were too good by now to get caught.

When the underlords had first set up shop, before the Growth Zones, that hadn't always been the case. He could vaguely remember packs of older kids running around and gathering information by being annoying. Adults would complain about them all the time. Now those same adults were all tuned into pictages and some of the kids that had grown up were too.

He dodged around the crumpled form of someone under a dinted, crumpled cardboard box and continued on. From what he knew, underlords didn't use pictages as much as the people on the street. They tended to shun the technology, preferring to remain hidden from the FEC and any tracking devices that might be imbedded in the digital visors. Probably likely, seeing as how many people talked bout being tracked, at least when they did talk.

He knew that they monitored what was shown to each person depending on what they wanted to see and what the real world was. A lot of the adults preferred to see only the artificial world that was provided to them by the monitors. The kids though, they tended to do whatever they wanted to. Some of them would be plugged in all the time, like the adults. Others would have the pictages up, but have the illusion transparent, allow it so they could see the real world with an overlay of the fake one in the corners. They could access the monitors, but didn't need to rely on them to change the world around them. Then there was the third, almost non-existent faction.

"Boy!" The gruff voice came out of the darkness, causing Evan to skid to a stop and look in its direction and raise an eyebrow.

"Don't be so obvious you idiot. When you're obvious they can find you easier."

"They're not going to find me."

"Don't be an idiot."

"Fine." Evan didn't bother hiding the annoyance in his voice. "They're not going to find me because the monitor's signals are disrupted by the tall brick walls making the alley in between a temporary dead zone that the signals can get to only every five minutes. If I time it correctly I can run through the city completely undetected so long as I am totally off line and logged down."

There was a grunt of approval from the shadows. "So the idiot's a parrot too. Come on, maybe you can learn new phrases."

Evan kept the retort back as he followed Johnathan Elis down the alley. It was time for after school courses with old man Elis.


	4. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

Evan followed Johnathan Elis as he skirted the sides of the buildings, keeping in the shadows if not the emptier buildings when he could. After the first bombardment of the carnivores when he was seven, Johnathan Elis had taken to guiding Evan in how to survive in the world of the FEC. Everything from how to keep to the shadows and avoiding getting caught, to whether or not getting Rosie something for her birthday was a good idea ("Always get a woman a gift, she'll make your life hell if you don't"). If not for Johnathan Elis, Evan knew he would probably be working for Rabbit with Zeke. Sometimes he thought maybe the underlord would be better than the old man.

"Kid, Stop."

Evan froze in place at Johnathan Elis' words. The first time he had heard that tone was back when he was seven.

"Kid, Stop."

Johnathan Elis' softer voice somehow cut through the catastrophe of screams, bullets and the occasional molotov cocktail going off in different parts of the city. Johnathan Elis had spoken as Evan tried to peer over the edge of the window nearby.

"Why? You're not the boss of me?" He had just lost his shoes, he might as well take a look and see if he could find them. Maybe he would be able to see them and then he wouldn't have to find a new pair.

"I'm not the boss of you, you're that to yourself. But I can keep you from ruining your brain." Dark clouds of memory skitted across Johnathan Elis' eyes, as though he was remembering something from a long time ago that still clung to him.

Evan scoffed, "I'm not going to ruin my brain if I look for my shoes."

"Trust me kid, don't."

Evan rolled his eyes and looked anyway.

The first thing he saw was red. Which was annoying, because his shoes were green. Then he saw the fingers, followed by the hand, the wrist, then the arm, and it stopped in a jagged, meaty red torn mess before where the elbow should have been. Followed by a leg, blasted away mid-thigh, a foot on it's own and a footless leg by another building.

As he was staring at what was once someone's leg, a booted foot stamed down, stumbled, then caught the ground underneath. The white boot was stained with red now, just like the rest of the ground. Then the carnivore took a knee to take a couple pot shots at someone running from one building to the next.

Evan was pulled away from the window by the back of his collar, falling on his butt.

"I told you not to kid." Johnathan Elis' voice had lost it's gruff edge, but Evan hadn't noticed. He only stared steadily at the window frame he had been staring out of for maybe a second.

That memory of the first time he had fully seen carnivores always flashed in the back of his head whenever Johnathan Elis used that particular phrase. Maybe Johnathan Elis knew that, which was why he used it. Either way, the memory had the effect of making Evan freeze up, losing any movement for a couple seconds. An ability Johnathan Elis fully took advantage of.

The old man was crouching under the shadow of a tin-roofed shanty by the side of the city. They were in a part of 298 that people generally didn't wander into, unless they were wearing the carnivore white. The FEC base was located off to the side of the city, close enough to intervene when people started to rise up but far enough away that no one in the city was likely to go out there. No one except for the crazies, like Johnathan Elis.

Watching everything carefully, Johnathan Elis carefully stepped out from the shadows and led Evan to the abandoned building he pretty much lived in. Johnathan Elis said it was called a church when he had been Evan's age, it was the tallest building Evan had ever seen. The FEC had taken down most of the taller buildings remaining from the old city for materials to use for the Growth Zone's everything machine, but left this one for whatever reason. Maybe they left it because it was a clear indicator to their clean, white base nearby.

Whatever the reason, church remained and Johnathan Elis had an easy place to live. According to him, the church was the best place to live.

"They never pay attention to what is closest to them" he had said once in explanation, "if it's so close as to being next door, they won't notice it. They'll assume only an idiot would live here, and even then someone with a severe death wish to be so close to their quarters."

"So what does that make you, an idiot or someone with a death wish?" Evan had asked.

The old man only smiled a grimly, "Wouldn't you like to know."

Now as they got close to the stone façade, Evan could see the blinking lights on the diamond shaped monitors that ringed the perimeter of the city. Blue was good, green okay, but never orange was what he had been taught in his FEC mandated courses. Johnathan Elis had told him a different story.

"Blue is so they know everyone's good and knocked out in their headsets, or at least most of the sheep that is. Green means that eh, some to most are knocked out, but there's a couple people out there beginning to question. That's when you have to take warning kid. Don't wait for orange. If you see orange, you run."

Evan looked down before the nearest monitor blinked a cool blue. With each blink they took multi-directional images of the entire city at different depths and areas. The closer you were to one, the more it could read, even down to the thread count in a t-shirt. However, if you were far away, or surrounded by a blocking material, like brick or stone, then the signal was disrupted and the images would be blurred. To counteract this the FEC would have high powered scans go on around the city every five minutes, and these were the scans Johnathan Elis was teaching him to avoid at all costs.

As the blue lights blinked, followed by the purple of a high powered scan, Johnathan Elis and Evan were already inside the church and below ground, Evan slowly learning whatever Johnathan Elis deemed was appropriate that day in order to survive. Survive and maybe even succeed in the world the FEC had created.


	5. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

"Advanced science courses?" Johnathan Elis hacked out a wheezing laugh that had gotten more practice since he had taken up teaching Evan six years ago. "What, are they going to try and tell you how to distribute what's left of decent resources to create ore everything fodder?" He fell into laughing again.

It was a well-known, and unexpected outcome of the FECs everything machines. Ever since Dr. Wise had stolen the fledgling FECs knowledge, the templets their own scientists had been able to salvage from the transmissions had been corrupted. At first no one had noticed anything, the machines worked just fine, churning out anything that could be imagined faster than it could be produced manually. Then ten years in there was the first major hiccup, the machines started to need materials to work off of. Turns out the base elements in the machines could only last so long before they ran out.

As it turned out, what could be found around the machines could be used just fine as recycled materials. So they used what could be found, in other words they were using the leftovers of everything machine works. That was when the corruption became sorely evident.

After a couple turns of recycling old everything machine products, they just crumbled. Turns out even recycling had its limits until the base material was recycled past the point of use. This meant the FEC now had a need for the surplus of people the world over, handy workers to find base materials.

That was how it went for a couple months, until one of those workers got too close to the loading hatch and fell down. The FEC labeled it as an unfortunate accident that had a lucky outcome. The underlords said that one of the carnivores had probably pushed the guy in because he said something. Johnathan Elis said the guy probably fell asleep from being over worked to the point of sleeping four or five hours every couple days. The collectors schedules had been hell. Whatever the reason, the outcome was simple, a body turned out the most, strongest, and longest lasting materials of any other that could be mined.

Now life was determined by your usefulness to the FEC. If you were smart enough, you could be interred into their ranks of scientists and carnivores. If not, you were fodder for the everything machine. There were no exceptions, if your talents lied in fields other than science or physical abilities, such as the arts, it wouldn't matter. If a baby was born with an obvious deformity, they were confiscated. If you spent too much time plugged into your pictage and just laying about, you were confiscated.

"Yeah, advanced classes my ass." Johnathan Elis' dark humor fell to the side. "It's the best way to survive, she's got that much right. Just make sure you don't stand out too much. You've been doing that, right kid?"

Evan rolled his eyes. "Obviously. I'm still meeting with you here. Even though you are crazy. And really need a sterilization."

Johnathan Elis nodded. "I'll ignore that second part. If it has anything to do with technology they turn out independent of those machines, you can guarantee they watch that footage thoroughly."

As he continued with the Big Brother rhetoric Evan tried to focus, but constantly found his mind drifting, sliding into sleep and almost nodding off. He didn't realize he was asleep until the bony grip on his shoulder woke him up.

"If you're going to sleep, then just leave. You'll raise suspicion if you're gone too long anyways. I'll signal when it's safe to come again."

Standing up, Evan frowned down at the old man still sitting on the dirt floor. "What do you mean, safe again?"

Johnathan Elis was quiet for a while. "After everything I've taught you, do you really think you'll be able to continue meeting with me if you take these advance courses? No, boy. This will be our last meeting for a while. If they find me here, you won't see me again, and I can guarantee it won't be because I've been shoved down a machine's hopper. Make sure the scan's cleared when you leave." With that the old man stood and wandered off into the shadows at the back of the basement.

Evan suddenly felt the return of the fist in his stomach as Johnathan Elis walked away. He had never thought the old guy would actually give up teaching him stuff, although was he really done? He said he would give a signal when it was safe. So all he had to do was pay attention for a signal that Johnathan Elis wanted to meet. That was all. He could do it.

Evan left to go, throwing a couple more glances over his shoulder to check if Johnathan Elis might have returned. He knew better than to yell down here. Electrical signals may be blocked, but voices could echo, and loud voices could echo to the surface and the last thing he wanted to do was give away Johnathan Elis' location.

Up the stone steps and through the massive cathedral, he skirted the broken pews and rotten floor boards. Some of the giant stained glass windows had been broken over the years, and the setting sunlight streamed in in patches intermitted with dazzling colors. Evan had even broken one window piece himself, giving Rosie a rose-tinged glass shard of her eighth birthday. She had been so happy she stopped asking him where he disappeared to all the time and hadn't asked since.

He always tried to be quiet in this old part of the church. Not that anything would echo or make any big noises, just he felt that he had to. It was probably the same reason the carnivores and FEC had left this place alone. There was just something about places where people used to gather in masses and do what humans do. Even though there was very little music, the FEC still kept old concert halls standing too.

Getting to the large doors, he checked the lights, waiting for a blue eye wink, then ran across the space to his alleyway. The return trip always felt faster than actually getting there. Now he just looked like one of the mass of kids running all over the cities grid work, passing messages or getting back to foster homes before the nightfall curfew.

As always, Evan felt the comfortable joy in running around the alleys, skirting through unawareness and secrecy. Getting home perfectly undetected but still knowing where all the runners had been as he made his way home. Knowledge really was power.


	6. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

"And remember, Knowledge is power!" The guest lecture finished, smiling broadly as he looked at the ten of them still left to graduate. Evan glanced at Rosie. Although he didn't feel especially touched by the speech about the good they could do for the FEC, he knew she was. She had a giant smile that matched that of the lecturer's.

He knew people used to be happy about graduating their courses, now all he could feel was the numbness and focus on the thought that he hadn't seen Johnathan Elis for five years. After those advanced courses had started Johnathan Elis had disappeared from his life. He knew the old guy hadn't wanted to be found, but there had to have been a better way than him losing his father figure so quickly. It hadn't been easy keeping the underlords off his back, although staying in and doing homework had helped quite a bit.

Boring, annoying, but helpful in that aspect. Now he was graduating second in the group of ten, after Rosie of course. It had been hard to stay mediocre with someone as pushy as Rosie was making you study more than you had to.

"Evan we did it!" Rosie broke him out of is stupor. "We did it! We graduated!" she grabbed his hand and started jumping up and down.

Evan let a reluctant smile break though. "Yeah, I guess we did. So now what?"

"I can answer that." Rosie and Evan looked over to the guy that had been in front of them a few minutes ago. Evan knew he had said his name, but he hadn't been paying attention and hadn't really cared either.

"What do you mean? Ike you have jobs for all of us?" Rosie asked.

"Well, not all of you." The lecturer turned recruiter glanced at the eight others in their class. Two of them seemed genuinely happy, the rest were already hooked into pictages of happy friends and family coming forward to greet and congratulate them on their accomplishments. A few even looked like they might be happy. "Anyway, come with me." He motioned with his hand and started walking.

Rosie caught up quick, soon peppering the guy with questions about what he meant, were there really jobs for them, were they going to be special after all? Each as responded with a quick and simple, more will be explained when we arrive.

Evan rolled his eyes and followed a foot or two behind. As they walked through the city he could feel eyes on him, but that was nothing new. He knew the underlords wanted him desperately now. Someone that had survived growing up in a Growth Zone, plus clearly had the interest of the FEC? Obvious pick for spy material. This had become more obvious as years dragged on and more and more 'chance encounters' happened on his way to the courses building and back.

First it had been Zeke all the time, then Nudge, then Crystal, then someone else and someone new and so on. The underlords had extended their reach through the city, realizing that by actually staging protests and coos that they were showing the FEC where they were and who was working for them. So they got smart, they went underground. And if some of the rumors were to be believed, they had been able to connect to other Growth Zones too. Not that any of it mattered anymore.

At least not to Evan. Not anymore.

He already knew where they were going before the recruiter said anything, and so did Rosie as she started paying attention to their surroundings. "Wait, are you taking us to the car- I mean, the CVR base."

The guy grinned. "Yes, and we know you call us carnivores. Hell, we call ourselves carnivores most of the time too. Makes you feel more powerful to know there's someone out there afraid enough to willingly label themselves as sheep."

Evan couldn't help the shudder that ran down his spine. It was one thing to hear the old man call everyone mindless sheep, quite another to hear the words come out of this carnivore's mouth. If he didn't know better he would have said they guy had pointed teeth.

"So what, are we being inducted into the FEC or something?" Rosie quipped.

"Something like that. But see, you're both technically already a part of the FEC simply by living in a Growth Zone. Every time you power up you visors the FEC knows what you're trying to see, to hear. I mean, we are the ones doing all the coding behind the waves, so obviously we know what each of you like. And you have to admit, the realities we create are pretty good." Evan thought back to his classmates just sitting in the old folding chairs, doped out smiles on their faces as they indulged in exactly the type of coding this guy was talking about now.

"We have plenty of people on the pictage squad, no. What we need now are able bodied people ready to go out and get things done. People ready to help the FEC continue to grow and branch out over worlds. We have earth pretty much covered at this point, but now we need more. You have to remember, we started as just a bunch of businessmen with the inkling of an idea and a mad scientist with a flash drive. You can only imagine what the world would be like if Browning 2.0 hadn't made it out and helped us out. He saw the dangers of keeping knowledge underground, so he came to the surface and we were more than happy to help him out."

 _I guess that's one way to look at it._ Evan thought to himself, It was a better picture to paint than saying the FEC had abducted the clone and had a field day with any information they were able to extract from it.

"No, Earth is pretty much ours. Now what we need…is a proxy."

Evan didn't have to see her to know Rosie's eyes were lighting up. "Wait, you mean Prox?"

"Yes, it's obvious to see how you were valedictorian. I mean Proxy-Earth, The next step to colonize and create a home on. After all, it's not like we can fix this mess here, So we might as well find a new start."

"A new start is exactly what we need, right Ev?" She looked back at him.

"Right."


	7. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

As soon as he walked into the CVR base, Evan had the distinct feeling of being an alien arriving on a new planet. White. Everywhere he looked was white. White walls, white floors, white uniforms on the people walking past, white furniture. No windows, but he was sure that if there had been, they would have white covers too.

He had known the building to be a large white dome from the outside, but that stark absence of color never fully registered. It was just something that was there. It was there and it was bad and he shouldn't go anywhere near it. Now he knew what those lab rats Johnathan Elis had told him about must feel like. And not just from the white either.

Evan could feel himself leaning as he walked, even though his brain was telling him he was walking normally. He just couldn't shake the feeling of tilting slowly to the right.

The recruiter looked back at him and Rosie and grinned, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. All the pathways are curved in here to use as much dome space as possible. It messes with your sense of balance when you first come in, but I promise, you'll get used to it eventually."

"Just what I need, a new balance problem." Evan muttered.

"And he speaks! I was wondering if you were a mute."

Evan glared at the guy, "And what about you? You're expecting me to believe that the name you gave us earlier is your real one?" No point in telling him he wasn't paying attention. Plus somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Johnathan Elis' voice telling him not to let these people see him as weak. Probably a good idea to listen to the old man a few more times.

The guy chuckled. "Very astute. No, it was not, but then again we of the CVR don't really go by names as a matter of necessity. When you are first interred you receive a number, but this is not going to be your number forever. Depending on what you do here, what field you go into, what you accomplish, what connections you end up making, your number will either raise or decrease. If it gets high enough, you will be considered for more confidential occupations, your status will increase. If it goes down though, well, let's agree not to do that, kay kay?"

"So will we be getting our numbers right now then?" Rosie couldn't have sounded more excited than if it were her birthday and they had gotten a real cake for the occasion.

"Well, not necessarily. First comes a tour of our facility. We here at the CVR want to make sure our new comers have some idea of where everything is, especially when they just get here. After all, who wants to get lost on their first day?"

 _You mean who wants to end up in restricted zones their first day._ Evan's usually gloomy thoughts rephrased the as yet not-named, or not-numbered, carnivore's statement. Trust was going to be a major problem here.

"Right now we're in the main corridor. As you saw, it's the only one you can walk as soon as you enter the facility, and the only one for a while. That would be for security purposes. The CVR has great pride in its security, so we take it very seriously. As a result, this entire walkway is one of the most secure parts of the building. No one is let in without access, and if I weren't here with you now, you would realize how dangerous white walls can be. Also just a friendly reminder to stay close and not get too lost as we make our way."

 _Oh goody, so unrestricted is death and if we stay our dirty, obviously not carnivore clothing will pin us as target practice. Good to know._

"Now, the CVR facility for Growth Zone 298 has three upper levels and one lower. As I'm sure you learned in your FEC courses there is a CVR facility in every former major city the world round. Now only the busiest, capitals, centers of major changes, have FEC buildings as well. Before there was one of each in every location, but soon the FEC realized they only needed a CVR base at each, especially with the dawn of the Transversal Visual Monitor Hood, TVMH. Or as I'm sure you've heard it called, a pictage screen.

"For most of your time here you will be stationed on the first floor, until you start to specify what you want to work on with us. Then you will have access to one of the other floors. The second floor is for science and technology based research. How can we get the everything machines to be more productive? Is there any other resource out there we might be able to use? Those are only a couple of the many questions they focus on on the second floor.

"The third floor is our T&T headquarters."

Rosie frowned, "TNT? Like weapons?"

Numberless put on one of the fakest smiles Evan had seen yet, "No, a common misconception. We at the CVR do not focus on weapons technology."

It took all of Evan's will not to let out a derisive Johnathan Elis style snort.

"No, T and T stands for Travel and Technology. There we put our energy into the problem of space travel. How can we get to Prox, safely? What exactly will we have to do and make so it's livable for humans once we are there? We know that, thanks to the Order of Teslonia we know that there is an everything machine there, but how much of its base materials are left? What instructions did the Order leave for it? These questions, as well as space travel, are what floor three covers."

"Seems like a pretty broad spectrum." Evan commented.

"Oh, trust me, it really isn't. Once you get down to it, right now all the T&T is mainly focused on is the technology part of the T&T. Although that will be changing."

"Changing?" Rosie asked.

This time Numberless' smile was real. "Yes, changing. One of our long time scientists has recently had a break through. We will be sending people to Prox in only a few years more. And trust me, unlike the propaganda, it really is only a few years." His voice swelled with pride, "Maybe even as little as two. That's how major this break through is."

Some little kid part of Evan lit up when the guy said this. He could feel himself being pulled in, his past dying. He could feel himself at the threshold of a new world, its gravity pulling him down. Bringing down to the earth whether he wanted it to or not. And strangely, for the first time, he actually wanted it to.


	8. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

With his thoughts buzzing about a sudden future, an actual _future_ , Evan couldn't pay attention to the rest of the tour. He only came back to reality when they stopped at a pair of double white doors with metal rectangles at either side of the close in the center.

"Through here you will find the rest of your training group."

"Wait, you're not the one training us?"

He felt a sudden pinch at his elbow as Rosie dug in and pulled him down to her 5'2" height. "What are you? Deaf? That's what he's been explaining for the past ten minutes, Ev. Het your head out of your ass."

The Recruiter chuckled. "Well, thank you Rosaline, but I'm sure Mr. Collins was paying attention at some level. He probably got caught up at some point in the tour, most people do after all. It's the mix of finding out the big secret organization that's been running your entire life is starting to crack open to you, plus plus the whole 'having a real future' thing too." The guy shrugged. "Besides, Dr. Connor will explain everything I've said plus more to the entire group. I doubt any of them were able to pay much attention to their guides either."

"Still rude." Rosie glared.

"Fine, sorry. I'll try to pay better attention." Turning to Rosie, "Better happy?"

"Give it a bit."

Evan rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, as I said. It will all be explained again. Now, if you don't mind I have other work I have to attend to. Good luck, and maybe we'll see each other on the other side." The guy gave a half wave and turned to go.

"Wait a sec." He turned back at Rosie's voice. "What was your number again? I mean, if we're to meet up again, it would be a good thing to know how to contact you, right?" She gave the winning smile that had usually gotten her out of the messier chores and annoying obligations.

"Good try, I hadn't. And one other piece of advie? Never give out your number to someone, it's easier to go with neutral terms, like comrade, compatriot and the like. After all, how often do you actually use a person's name in daily conversation?"

Evan had to agree, he barely used Rosie's name out loud, only in his thoughts really.

"I will give you this though. Outside, I was Charlie." He nodded then left them finally.

"Charlie?" Rosie asked when he was far enough to be out of hearing. "What kind of name is that?"

"An old fashioned one and probably not what he actually went by. He probably actually went by his last name, like Susu." Almost no one wen by their full names anymore, only mono or dual syllable nicknames of either their first or last given name. Knowing a full name was tantamount to knowing an entire secret of a person.

"Still, he didn't have to be so stiffy. I mean, he was trying to slang us half the time, what with all the doubles."

"Give him a break, he's probably new." Rosie raised an eyebrow at Evan's defense of the carnivore. "Yeah, I know, that felt weird to say too. Come on, let's go."

He pushed open the doors and let Rosie go in first. Inside were neat rows of long tables with bench seats on either side of the length of the table. There were probably ten tables and among them about fifteen kids, all around Rosie and Evan's age. Most were sitting at the tables, two were in a back corner, speaking to each other now and again, although they both paused to survey Rosie and Evan as they entered. One girl was even sitting on one of the tables, her feet resting on the bench seat, elbows resting on her knees, hands limp in between. She cocked her head, catching Evan's eyes with her black ones as they passed to an empty table near the back.

No one was logged onto their pictage.

In his life, Evan couldn't remember a room being this filled with people without pretty much all of them being logged on simultaneously. Now being in a room where no one was, he felt vulnerable. He acutely felt that they could see every nuance of him, from his tattered, dirt-stained jeans, old black t-shirt and FEC issue jacket to his beat up black combat boots that he had gotten lucky with when an old army vet had died. Fiddling with the zipper of his jacket for the first time in years, he wondered at the intelligence of opting to go with Charlie again.

"God, I feel exposed." Rosie muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. Evan saw her as the others did, wearing pretty much the same thing as him, substituting boots for FEC issue sneakers, and crazy curly red hair pulled back into a ponytail instead of his chin-length messy black hair. She zipped her jacket up. "Never thought this would be what it would feel like, you know?"

Evan nodded. Normally quiet, he felt like his vocal cords had shrunk to pinky finger length and if he opened his mouth, he might get a super manly squeak out at most. Not even being a new kid at school would be like this, he figured. Because then most kids probably would, no, _definitely_ would be logged in and the new kid would have the advantage of a pictage shield in between them and the people around them.

"I wouldn't bother."

Evan jumped at the voice and looked towards it, his right, to the girl that had been sitting on the table was now standing next to him.

"What?" He asked.

"Your TVMH. It won't work. He already tried." She tilted her head back towards a blue-haired kid with a dark blue, almost black jacket, his back to Evan due to how he was sitting. "Got a nasty shocky when he tried to." She made a sparking motion with her fingers.

"And who're you?" Rosie asked.

"Kara Lynn, Lynny if ya want." The girl said, swinging first one leg, then the next over the bench across from Rosie and Evan. "Hailing from the great Growth Zone 303, former Rochester, NY. Pleasure." She stuck out her hand.

Evan and Rosie both eyed the hand, looked at each other, then the hand.

Lynny rolled her eyes, "I swear I'm not gonna do anything. God I'm not an underlord or something."

Rosie shrugged and put her fist in Lynny's hand. "Rosie, and yea, mainly cuz the hair. And this is Evan, Ev if ya want." Evan nodded at the blonde haired, black eyed girl. "We're from here, cuz why not keep the shit where it stains, ya know?"

Lynny grinned, "Oh I know, just no good good carnie shop in the 303. All shady and shit."

"Underlord?" Rosie asked.

"Sommet like that." Lynny looked squarely at Evan. "You mute Ev?"

"Nah, just don't like speakin." He shrugged. "Too iffy."

"True too." She extended her hand to him. "You gonna stay good close through this?"

Looking at her, Evan saw every other almost friend he'd tried to keep. Because pretty much every one of them had been a street rat, none had survived. This girl, Lynny, she talked like a street rat and had the same easy friendship to offer as all of them had. But she had survived the streets, she had gotten here to 298, and from 303 too. She might be a snake for all he knew.

He slapped her hand with his fist and she closed her hand over it. "Yea I'll stay good close, but only if ya do the same for me and Rosie."

"Course, why'd I offer it if I wasn't planning it?" She gave him the sideways grin he was already starting to think of as hers.


	9. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

"So do you think they're gonna have us do anything here, or are we gonna just keep waitin' on them to show?"

Evan shrugged at Lynny's question. "Probably keep us waiting, you know how the FEC is. Waitin and waiting and notin to show." He grinned.

Rosie blinked at him. "Did you…holy crap on an oven. He made a joke. You got him to make a joke." She looked at Lynny with giant eyes. "How'd you get him to do that? The last time he made a joke was maybe two years ago."

Evan scoffed. "Was not."

"Was too, and don't try to say anything different." He glared at Rosie's quick reply.

Lynny looked back and forth between them, "Same foster home?"

"Is it that obvious?" Rosie asked.

Lynny only nodded in response. "I was the same way with a cou-"

All three of them jumped at a piercing tone that cut her off mid-sentence. "Welcome, future providers!" A voice came in from some unseen source. "As you well know, we at the FEC choose only a select few candidates for active service each year. You gathered here are the cream of the crop," Evan raised an eyebrow towards Rosie at the old-fashioned saying, "Greater than any of your graduating year. We will begin testing in only a few more minutes. Please wait patiently until then." The voice cut out with a click.

"So they welcome us, then tell us to wait." Evan felt a mild annoyance growing. "Seems…unorganized."

"Is anything organized anymore?" Rosie asked.

Evan and Lynny conceded the point.

"Well, seems like they're trying to be. As much as any other people ever are anyways."

Evan tilted his head at Lynny, "That's a pretty damn optimistic view point there."

"Blame it on the wait." Lynny's voice dripped in sarasam, "The longer I wait, the more chipper I get."

Just as she finished speaking there was another piercing tone and the same message was pipped into the room again.

After it was done the three of them just looked at each other. "That was weird, right?" Rosie asked.

"Definitely weird." Lynny agreed, her voice having lost its sarcastic bite.

Evan nodded. He glanced behind him to see how the other kids were acting. The two by the wall had sat down on the floor, looking at each other in confusion. Some of the people at the tables looked to be asleep, others glancing around, seemingly scared for whatever reason.

He was about to turn around when emerald green eyes caught his eye and made him stop. He found himself caught in the gaze of the guy siting all across the room at a table to himself. His green eyes stood out from dirty, tanned skin, even more startling for the shaven head and thin black eyebrows. His chin was resting on folded arms encased in thick black jacket sleeves, and he was continuously staring right at Evan.

At the next ear-piercing tone the guy didn't flinch any more than Evan did now, used to the tone within three uses of it. He continued to stare until the speech was made a fourth time and Evan felt a weird snap of being free, jerking his head around to Lynny and Rosie. Lynny cocked an eyebrow at him when he finally faced her again. He only shook his head and listened to the announcement again.

Evan didn't know how many times the speech had been made when someone finally lost it. "We get it! We're fucking special, now shut the fuck up and start telling us why the fuck we're here! You fucking bastards!" One of the wall guys lost his cool and started banging on the door. "You fucking trap us in here and leave us to rot? What's the fucking point?!" His words were interspersed with more pounds and kicks.

"Hey guy, shut it." Green eyes' voice was muffled through the jacket sleeves as he had put his head down.

"Fucking bring us here to kill us faster! I'da rather fucking die in the streets, ya hear? Ya hear?!"

"Hey! Shut. Up."

"Every fucking time you get us in here and fucking string us along! What, s this a new way to fucking-"

"Hey! Ass hole!"

Evan didn't think, he reacted. One minute sitting, the next pinning the shouting guy against the door he was banging on. "Shut up and sit down." His voice came out in a growl.

"Why should I? It's exactly-"

He slammed the guy into the door. "I said shut up. And sit down. Do it." He stepped back, letting the guy go. The idiot jerked himself away and glared at Evan, testing. "Sit, or I will make you sit." This time the idiot got the message and went back to his place by his buddy.

Rolling his shoulders, Evan went back to the girls. "Well, that was fun." Lynny grinned at him, crossing her legs and grabbing her ankles. "Did you work for the UL's or something?"

Evan shook his head, "No, but had to scare off enough of their minions to know how to do it well."

"Ah." She nodded then glanced at Rosie, who was only growing quieter. "What about you, ever try the tempting candy?"

Rosie opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and shook her head.

Lynny bobbed her head, "Kinda figured. You don't seem the type."

Another ear-piercing tone sounded, but this time the doors in the back opened and a woman in a crisp white lab coat came striding in, heels clicking on the floor. Pulling down her pictage headset as she made her way to the front of the room, her clear authority commanded the attention of every person lying about. Even Lynny got down from her perch on the table top to sit on the bench for once.

Getting to the front, which seemed to be next to Evan and companies' table, she snapped around, facing the group. "Hello everyone, and welcome to the FEC. I am Dr. Haley Rochester and I will be conducting your testing. Be good, cooperate and, if it all works. I can go back home to Prox and will be bringing a number of you with me."


	10. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

The woman watched the group, eyes judging and measuring each of them to some scale Evan didn't know and hadn't been aware of until just now. Quietly, everyone found a place on one of the bench seats, all facing the woman. Once they were all seated, she nodded.

"Good. Now that I have your attention, let's get this over with. So, obviously, you've all been picked because you're semi-bright. Semi, bright. The rest of that intelligence is going to be tested over the next few weeks. We're going to measure if you actually are smart, or if you were able to just skate by on just guess work." She frowned, "Which happens more than the rest of my, colleagues, would like to admit."

Evan glanced sideways and caught Rosie's eye. They both knew a couple kids that just guessed through testing, none had lasted that long. Or if they had, they stayed plugged into pictages for all of their courses.

"So, after we figure if you guessed or are actually smart, then we're going to be testing where you might fit into the FEC. I'm sure your tour guides went over the different departments, S&T, T&T, and CVR based areas. And if your guide was smart, they probably mentioned that T&T will be limited to travel only pretty soon. Since you're already here, I don't mind telling you that most of the upper levels of the FEC already have homes based on Prox. There are also a couple politicians that live up there too." The tone of her vice made it clear she found the politicians at least partially annoying.

"So to start off we have an old fashioned paper test." She pulled a sheaf of papers from her lab coat breast pocket. "Don't make too many mistakes on this." She passed out a couple papers to each of the group as she walked back to the door. "Get as many right as you can, and we'll see where you can go from there. Someone will be back in about an hour." She nodded at them, leaving the room.

"What, so they just expect us to sit here again? Fuck them!" The guy that had banged on the door complained.

"If you don't want to take the test, fine. Just don't make it impossible for those of us that actually give a shit." The green eyed guy said, looking only at his test and making now and then with an eStylus.

"Whatever." The first guy threw his eStylus on the table, getting up to go back to the corner he had been standing in before. There he pulled his hood over his head, bunkering down and falling asleep.

Evan raised his eyebrows at Rosie, who just shook her head. They both knew an underlord's kid when they saw one. Lacking any care about FEC regulations and only wanting to be back out on the streets where they knew they had some sort of pull. They would have that same big head for long enough that once everyone else came to expect it, they would disappear. Sometimes their body might show up, but more often than not the kids wouldn't be seen again. Those had been the people permanently labeled as 'idiot' in Johnathan Elis' book.

About an hour into the way too normal test questions the doors in the back clattered and a harried guy in a lab coat came bustling in.

"So you guys done yet? Well, I guess it doesn't matter, I just need the papers anyway." He started collecting the packets when he noticed the guy sleeping in the corner. "Um, did he finish?"

"No." Green eyes said as he handed his packet over. "Just decided not to take the test."

"Ah." The presumable scientist looked slightly disappointed, then suddenly had a light bulb moment. "Oh. Oh shit. Ah, um. I'll be right back." He turned to leave, then remembered something and walked backwards as he continued to speak "Don't, don't keep answering the questions if you didn't finish. The eStylus' will change color now that the time limits up. I'll be back." He turned back around and ran out the door.

Lynny glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping guy. "Hope the nap was worth it."

"Prob not." Rosie clacked her papers on the table as if she were trying to get them even.

"Think they'll kill him or something?" Lynny raised an eyebrow conspiratorially.

"Not outright. They want to keep the appearance of helping us, ya know?" Evan said.

Out came Lynny's half grin "True true."

"Um, it's right, he's right, right in here." The three of them looked to the doors as the harried scientist came back in, pushing old fashioned glasses back up his nose. Behind him were two CVR agents, almost blending into the rest of the building with their all white uniforms.

The agents didn't bother with the scientists' babbling when they came in. They simply saw the kid asleep on the ground, picked him up by the armpits, one on either side, and left. Just as the doors closed behind them they could hear the guys' sleep muddled voice just beginning to protest against being woken up.

 _Poor bastard doesn't even know what's gonna happen to him._ Evans thoughts ran in both support and condemnation of the kid as he turned his pack over to the scientist.

"Okay, so um, if I have everyone's test packets just follow me. I'll be showing where you will be sleeping while you're here. Oh, you are gonna have roommates. You'll see who it is when we get there. So, um, if you'll follow me?"

Evan shrugged and stood up, following Rosie and Lynny as the group left the room they had been in since they arrived. He paused a bit though, looking back at the corner where the guy had been sleeping, making a note to make sure not to sleep…or do anything really at the wrong time. If Johnathan Elis had taught him anything, it was to know when being a sheep was okay, and when it was a necessity of survival.


	11. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

They were led deeper down the stark white, curving tunnels. Evan tried to pay attention where we went; right, left, right, left, straight, left, etc., but soon lost count of how many rights and lefts had been taken and where the straights were placed in the mix. The entire group was quiet as they walked, only the different tones of shoes hitting the tile to fill the air. After some time the frazzled guide finally stopped.

"So, um, here's where we split off. Girls go to the right, boys left. You'll find a series of rooms each with your names. Um, and you'll be sharing rooms, sorry. But Dr. Rochester will be meeting with you guys in the morning. She's the head of your group, well you knew that I guess. So she'll be conducting the rest of your testing." He nodded, then clearly remembered something. "Oh! And don't worry if the doors close behind you. Those are only safety measures." He gave a lop-sided smile. "Sorry, trust stuff…sorry."

"Oh just stop apologizing already, we're going." Lynny scoffed. She gave a half wave to Evan as she took Rosie by the elbow and led her and the rest of the girls down the right hallway.

Half waving back Evan turned and went down his own hall. He was the last of the group and as soon as he crossed the boundary the walls gave a vacuum seal sound and slid shut.

"Those walls are at least a foot thick, safety measures my ass." The green eyed guy scoffed.

Evan half smiled in agreement and looked for his name. He found it on the second door on the right above another name, Jareth Khris.

"So we're roomies then." The green eyed guy, Jareth, said.

"Guess so." He nodded to the name plaque. "Evan Collins. And random assumption says you're Jareth Khris then?"

Jareth cocked an eyebrow. "Really dude? Introductions? Who does that anymore? Whatever, yeah, Jareth. Call me Jare, 'kay?"

"Only if you call me Ev." He said as he walked into the room and claimed one of the thin beds, laying on his side facing the wall.

"And we're not buddies." Jare said as he sat on his own bed.

Evan flopped onto his other side to face Jareth, "What, you mean we're not here to make friends in a CVR base that is conducting a secret test that clearly means death if you don't perform up to their standards?"

"Wow, sarcasm much?"

"It's a talent. And a long practiced language skill." Evan grinned.

Jareth just stared at him, trying to figure this black haired, black eyed pasty kid out. Instead he found himself smiling and going along with this kids antics. "Clearly not taught in your courses?"

"Are you kidding? My courses were in fluent sarcasm, or at least my answers to their questions were."

Jareth scoffed a laugh, grinning still. "Where'd you come from that your humor survived?"

Evan shrugged, "Right here, actually. My foster house is a couple blocks into the city from here."

Cue the raised eyebrows. "No shit? Well damn, I'm from the opposite end of 298. They shipped me here cuz supposedly the CVR base there doesn't have training facilities. Which makes sense I guess." He looked up, as if trying to see past the ceiling, "This one is more than double the size of ours."

"No shit. What's your underlord situation there?"

Jareth looked directly at Evan. "There isn't. You remember the giant riot when we were kids?" Evan nodded. "That was started from the east side underlords. The CVR completely crushed anyone connected to, even remotely, to the underlords on that side. From what I heard, everyone else got of light compared to it."

Evan nodded. He had always wondered why the carnivores had been so…lacking in his part of the town. It made sense if they had all their main force somewhere else nearby but only a giant base to instill fear here. "So you have the hand, and we get the fear. Seems like a giant crock of shit."

Jareth cocked an eyebrow, "What about life isn't?"

Evan was about to agree when a loudspeaker voice was piped into the room. "Lights out in, one, minute. Testing will resume in, seven, hours. Please sleep, now." And the lights were out. Evan blinked in the blackness.

He heard Jareth's scoff/laugh. "See you in the morning for the death test then."

"Yeah." Evan grabbed the thin blanket on the bed. _I'm not dying. I'm not dying here, not tomorrow, or anytime soon._ His thoughts turned, confirming his conviction to not be the last to fall in whatever the CVR, the FEC and whoever else had set up for him.


End file.
